INTERVIEW: Firebeatz

posted by Nicole Mastrogiannis
-
3 years ago

Dutch duo Firebeatz have been heating up the dance music scene over the past couple of years. Aside from their own original productions, they've remixed huge artists like Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, and a long list of others. Having just completed a residency at Pacha in Ibiza this summer, and appearances at festivals like Tomorrowland, Tim and Jurre are just getting started.

The guys stopped by iHeartRadio HQ in New York City where they talked about their remix for Rihanna, their newest music, the story behind their track "Sausage Fest," and what they like about touring in America. Check it out below:

How did you guys get together?

We met each other at The School of Arts for Music Production. And that’s where we met and there was like an assignment to work together and yeah that’s where it all started. We made a track together and it worked really well and it got played by DJ’s and then got released, we were like well we should do something with this and that’s where Firebeatz started.

You guys did a lot of remixes for a lot of different pop and urban artists like Pitbull, Snoop Dogg, Flo Rida, Timbaland, James Blunt, Sean Paul, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake. Are you fans of those guys?

Rihanna, yeah. We just for Def Jam. From the beginning we loved her, she’s so good. Such a talented artist, it’s really [an] honor to do something with this music you know. We listen to all of them, it’s on the radio, so.

Who are your favorite artists outside of dance music right now?

The Prodigy. Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx. Also what Jay-Z is doing and Kanye and all those guys, 2 Chainz. Very different. We’re really broad, you know. We like different genres. Disclosure and all that kind of stuff.

Having done all those remixes, is there anyone you’re dying to remix?

To remix? Yeah, of course. Like Michael Jackson or something. That would be really awesome. James Brown remix (laughs). Something totally different, we would like to do that, combine different styles.

How did you come up with the name for your collab with Chocolate Puma, "Sausage Fest?"

We were in the studio, and in his hometown everybody eats like this sausage bread – so the girlfriend of Chocolate Puma, she is also from the South where you would eat that stuff and every time we went there he brought the sausages. So we were like "it’s every time a sausage fest with you guys," but in a different way that you know the word, but we couldn’t come up with a name. So [we thought] let’s use that you know, nobody knows what the real story is… Everybody thinks different. So it’s fun.

It’s really a bit of a follow up of “Dear New York” together with Schella. Schella also went to the same school with us. We went in the studio and came up with another crazy break, like the break beat, and we built it like a crazy drop. We were like "we really have to have our own sound in there," so that’s why the break beat is in there. You know, to give it that Firebeatz style – that different kind of sound. It works amazing on the floor, the drop is really hard, got a lot of support from Hardwell, W&W, and Bingo Players. A lot of big names; it’s cool.

Yes, one of the busiest ones. Really busy. We’ve done a lot of stuff. A lot of touring. Ibiza, first U.S.A. tours. We did The Residency at Pacha, so we did a lot of festivals, big festivals in Holland. We did some Europe stuff – Italy, Germany, Austria, everything like [all of] Europe and now we’re actually starting to tour in the U.S. We got a work permit like two months ago, so now we can finally tour here.

What’s been the most wicked highlight of the summer?

Guaba was really crazy. It’s off the hook, yeah. That was crazy. And Boston was also really cool. We played Ocean Club in the Marina. And also Roseland was great to play in New York for the first time.

Now that you guys are touring in America, what do you like about touring in Americathe most?

Just, the parties are great. People are really raving and stuff, so. The food. Actually just seeing America. We’ve seen it all our lives on T.V. and stuff, and then to see it in real life is crazy. So, it’s cool.

Is there anywhere in America where you haven’t been that you really want to go to?

A lot of places. We’re going to San Francisco, that’s where I really wanna see. I wanna see Chicago, L.A., like the spots. We went to Vegas for the first time like two weeks ago. Crazy, that was really on my to-do list. Marquee. We stayed in The Cosmo. Got a suite.

So what are you looking forward to next? Are you working on any more new music?

Yes. We’ve got a lot of new singles. We’re testing our new singles. We have like two or three right ready, so if you come to our show pay attention cause there’s new stuff in there and new collabs. With Chesto. First album so that’s gonna be good. We still need to finish also a lot of collaborations and we have some appointments but we need to fix the schedules cause with W & W and with Sander [van Doorn] are gonna make a track. It’s gonna be a lot of stuff. We all need to grab our schedules and see what fits but it’s all in the planning.